The Omani capital has wrapped up its second film festival which lasted 8 days during which 25 films from 12 countries were screened to reveal an agreement for the production of the first Omani film at the cost of 1.25 million dollars.
The festival head, Khaled al Zadgali, revealed in a press conference held after the conclusion ceremony that an agreement had been signed with a producer and screenwriter to produce an Omani film costing Around 450,000 Omani Rhiyals (more than 1.25 million dollars), according to the daily al Hayat.
This production adventure may be subsidized as was the case with the festival in an attempt to highlight the presence of the Sultanate movies in future in order to achieve media and tourist objectives at the international level.
Responding to a question on the absence of Omani films in a local film festival, Zadgali pointed out that “the French cinema industry does not produce more than 6 films annually while it holds 24 film festivals every year.” He added, “the same applies to Italy and other countries. The lack of production does not stand as an obstacle in the way of becoming open to the industry of the seventh art.” “Should we neglect this top art if we do not produce films?” he inquired.
“The festival has achieved success as the number of films screened were more than those screened at the first festival in addition to the increase in the number of viewers to 42oo versus 1300 at the first festival,” said Zadgali.
The Egyptian film al Saher (Magician) starring Mahmoud Abdel Aziz surprised the viewers with hot scenes when it was screened in full without interference by censors. “It was agreed with the censor to refrain from omitting any scenes from any of the participating films which he did. The hot scene disappeared when the film was screened for the second time but this was justified that the second screening was not part of the festival features but rather for the viewers,” the festival head said.
At the concluding ceremony the festival management signed a twinning agreement with NAT Film Festival for the three continents. This will provide Muscat Film Festival with the opportunity to prove itself more effectively locally and abroad -- Albawaba.com
